He later clairfied that Mr Blair never had an affair with Ms Deng and would not be making a public statement on the matter.

Mr Blair's name began trending on Twitter after the news of Mr Murdoch's divorce broke.

Speculation has been running wild as to why the 82-year-old News Corp chief suddenly filed for a divorce after 14 years of marriage to Ms Deng.

Divorce papers filed in the New York Supreme Court simply state the "relationship between husband and wife has broken down irretrievably".

According to experts on the media mogul's life and business affairs, Mr Murdoch's reasons for the divorce are "jaw-dropping".

BBC financial correspondent Robert Peston, who is close friends with many of Mr Murdoch's key lieutenants, including News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, kicked the rumour frenzy off when he tweeted yesterday: "Am also told that undisclosed reasons for Murdoch divorcing Deng are jaw-dropping - & hate myself for wanting to know what they are."

The couple are believed to have filed for joint custody of their children, 11-year-old Grace, and nine-year-old Chloe, but there are no details of any settlement.

Mr Murdoch married Ms Deng in 1999, soon after he split from his second wife, Anna Torv. Torv and Murdoch had been married for 31 years and the divorce was a bitter one.

His first marriage, to Patricia Booker, ended in 1967.

Mr Murdoch met Ms Deng at a party when she was an intern at the company's Star TV in Hong Kong. Their marriage was at first viewed as a joke, with Deng framed as a gold-digger and Murdoch the flattered old man.

However, those who know the couple have described the them as very close, with Ms Deng proving to be a positive influence on her older husband's life and mediator between him and his children with Torv.

Ms Deng was fiercely protective of Murdoch as well. In 2011, when she was sitting behind Murdoch as he testified before a British parliamentary committee following the UK phone hacking scandal, she showed her husband's critics that she had mean right hook.

As assailant Jonathan May-Bowles approached with a pie aimed at her husband, Ms Deng, a former volleyball player, jumped to her feet and launched her right hand at May-Bowles.

Mr Wolff has described her as the "most significant figure in the closing chapters of Rupert's life". "She has had an enormous impact on his life," he told the Guardian.

According to alleged details of the couple's pre-nup, their children will not have the same voting rights as Elisabeth, Lachlan and James, his children by Torv.

Mr Murdoch has built a $US60 billion (NZ$74.74bn) global media empire, and, ironically, earlier this week the company's shareholders voted to split the business into two publicly traded companies.

21st Century Fox will hold the TV and movie interests, while News Corp will hold the newspaper and publishing assets.

A News Corp spokesperson said the divorce would have no impact on the company.